Rogue Forces Read online

  Rogue Forces

  Dale Brown

  Thank you to Kris Thompson for his generosity

  Contents

  Cast of Characters

  Weapons and Acronyms

  Real-World News Excerpts

  Prologue

  The dilok, or traditional wedding celebration, had been going on…

  Chapter One

  “Masters Two-Two, this is White Sands.” The portable radio squawked…

  Chapter Two

  “Close the damn door before I start bawling like a…

  Chapter Three

  Thompson took Patrick and Jon back out to the hangar,…

  Chapter Four

  Voices in the Tank were much more muted than before;…

  Chapter Five

  “It’s total chaos and confusion up there in Ankara, Mr. Vice President,”…

  Chapter Six

  “That’s the third call from Washington, sir,” an aide said…

  Chapter Seven

  “Movement at the front gate, sir!” the Turkish captain of…

  Chapter Eight

  The two eight-man teams of Turkish bordo bereliler, or Maroon…

  Epilogue

  “What in hell do you mean, the United States attacked…

  About the Author

  Other Books by Dale Brown

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  AMERICANS

  PATRICK S. MCLANAHAN, Lieutenant-General, USAF (ret.), partner and president, Scion Aviation International

  KEVIN MARTINDALE, former president of the United States, silent owner of Scion Aviation International

  JONATHAN COLIN MASTERS, Ph.D., chief of operations, Sky Masters Inc.

  HUNTER NOBLE, VP of development, Sky Masters Inc.

  JOSEPH GARDNER, president of the United States

  KENNETH T. PHOENIX, vice president

  CONRAD F. CARLYLE, national security adviser

  MILLER H. TURNER, secretary of defense

  WALTER KORDUS, White House chief of staff

  STACY ANNE BARBEAU, secretary of state

  U.S. MARINE CORPS GENERAL TAYLOR J. BAIN, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  U.S. ARMY MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES CONNOLLY, division commander, northern Iraq

  U.S. ARMY COLONEL JACK T. WILHELM, executive officer, Second Regiment, Allied Air Base Nahla, Iraq

  ARMY LIEUTENANT COLONEL MARK WEATHERLY, regimental executive officer

  ARMY MAJOR KENNETH BRUNO, regimental operations officer

  USAF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GIA “BOXER” CAZZOTTO, commander, Seventh Air Expeditionary Squadron

  KRIS THOMPSON, president and CEO of Thompson Security, private security company at Allied Air Base Nahla, Iraq

  FRANK BEXAR, privately contracted intelligence officer

  CAPTAIN KELVIN COTTER, USAF, deputy regimental air traffic management officer

  MARGARET HARRISON, privately contracted UAV director

  REESE FLIPPIN, privately contracted weather officer

  TURKS

  KURZAT HIRSIZ, president of the Republic of Turkey

  AYSE AKAS, prime minister of the Republic of Turkey

  HASAN CIZEK, minister of national defense, Republic of Turkey

  GENERAL ORHAN SAHIN, secretary-general, Turkish National Security Council

  MUSTAFA HAMARAT, Turkish foreign minister

  FEVSI GUCLU, director, National Intelligence Organization

  GENERAL ABDULLAH GUZLEV, chief of staff of the military of the Republic of Turkey

  GENERAL AYDIN DEDE, replacement military chief of staff

  MAJOR AYDIN SABASTI, liaison officer to U.S. Second Regiment at Allied Air Base Nahla, Iraq

  MAJOR HAMID JABBURI, deputy liaison officer

  GENERAL BESIR OZEK, commander, Jandarma (Turkish national internal security forces)

  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GUVEN ILGAZ, deputy commander, Jandarma

  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL MUSTAFA ALI, replacement Jandarma commander

  IRAQIS

  ALI LATIF RASHID, president of the Republic of Iraq

  COLONEL YUSUF JAFFAR, commander, Allied Air Base Nahla, Tall Kayf, Iraq

  MAJOR JAAFAR OTHMAN, Iraqi Maqbara (tomb) Company, Seventh Brigade commander

  COLONEL NOURI MAWLOUD, liaison officer to Second Regiment

  ZILAR “BAZ” (HAWK) AZZAWI, Iraqi PKK rebel leader

  SADOON SALIH, Azzawi’s assistant squad leader

  WEAPONS AND ACRONYMS

  ACRONYMS AND TERMINOLOGY

  AMARG—Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (the “Boneyard”), a U.S. Air Force facility near Tucson, Arizona, that stores, dismantles, and recovers parts from out-of-service aircraft

  AOR—Area of Responsibility

  AQI—Al-Qaeda in Iraq, an Iraqi offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization

  “battle rattle”—personal equipment necessary for combat operations

  bullseye—a designated point from which range and bearing information to an objective can be transmitted on open frequencies without revealing one’s own location

  C4I—Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence

  Çancaya—the seat of government of the Republic of Turkey

  CHU—Containerized Housing Unit, a mobile living space resembling a cargo container used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq

  CHUville—an area of a large number of CHUs

  DFAC—Dining Facility

  ECM—Electronic Countermeasures

  EO—Electro-Optical, sensors that can electronically distribute or enhance optical images

  FAA—Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. aviation regulatory agency

  FOB—Forward Operating Base, a military base close to or in enemy territory

  Fobbits—slang for staff and support personnel

  Fobbitville—slang for the headquarters building

  FPCON—Force Protection Condition, a rating of the enemy or terrorist threat level for a military installation (formerly THREATCON)

  GP—Geneal Purpose (gravity bomb or vehicle)

  IA—Iraqi Army

  IED—Improvised Explosive Device

  IIR—Imaging Infrared, a heat sensor with enough resolution to form images

  ILS—Instrument Landing System, a radio beam system that can guide aircraft to land in severe weather conditions

  IM—Instant Messaging, transmitting text messages between computers

  IR—Infrared

  Klicks—kilometers

  KRG—Kurdistan Regional Government, the political organization that administers the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq

  LLTV—Low-Light TV

  LRU—Line Replaceable Units, components of aircraft systems that can be easily removed and replaced on the flight line if it malfunctions

  Mahdis—slang term for any foreign fighter

  Mission-adaptive technology—system of automatically shaping aircraft surfaces to allow greater flight control capabilities

  Modes and codes—settings for different aircraft identification transponder radios

  MTI—Moving Target Indication, a radar that tracks moving vehicles on the ground from a long distance

  Netrusion—transmitting false data or programming into an enemy computer network via digital communications, datalinks, or sensors

  NOFORN—No Foreign; a security classification that restricts foreign nationals from acessing data

  PAG—Congress for Freedom and Democracy, an alternate name of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party

  PKK—Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Kurdish separatist organization seeking to form a separate nation from the ethnic Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq; re
cognized as a terrorist organization by several nations and organizations

  ROE—Rules of Engagement, the procedures and limitations for a combat operation

  SAM—Surface-to-Air Missile

  SEAD—Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses, using jammers and weapons to destroy an enemy air defense weapon, radar, or command and control facilities

  triple-A—antiaircraft artillery

  WEAPONS

  AGM-177 Wolverine—air-or ground-launched autonomous attack cruise missile

  CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition—an air-dropped weapon that releases antipersonnel and antivehicle mines over a wide area

  CBU-97 Sensor-Fuzed Weapon—an air-dropped weapon that can detect and destroy numerous armored vehicles at one time over a wide area

  CID—Cybernetic Infantry Device, a manned robot with enhanced strength, armor, sensors, and combat capabilities

  Cobra gunship—U.S. Army second-generation weaponized light helicopter

  CV-22 Osprey—a medium transport aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter but can then swivel its rotors and fly like a fixed-wing aircraft

  JDAM—Joint Direct Attack Munition, a bolt-on kit for gravity bombs that give them near-precision accuracy using Global Positioning System navigation information

  KC-135R—latest model of the Boeing 707 family of aerial refueling tanker aircraft

  Kiowa—light helicopter that carries advanced sensors used to spot targets for helicopter gunships

  MIM-104 Patriot—American-made ground-based antiaircraft missile system

  SA-14—second generation Russian-made shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile

  SA-7—first generation Russian-made shoulder-fired antiaircraft missile

  Slingshot—high-powered laser defensive system for aircraft

  Stryker—an eight-wheeled multirole armored personnel carrier of the U.S. Army

  Tin Man—a soldier outfitted with advanced body armor, sensors, and strength augmentation systems to increase his combat capabilities

  XC-57 “Loser”—a flying-wing aircraft originally designed for the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Bomber, but converted to a multimission transport aircraft when the design lost the contract competition

  REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

  BBC NEWS ONLINE, 30 OCTOBER 2007:…Tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish region had been rising steadily in the months running up to the current crisis, triggered by PKK attacks which have killed some forty Turkish troops in recent weeks.

  …In May, Turkey was angered when the three provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan were handed security control by the US-led multinational forces, and promptly raised the Kurdish flag instead of the Iraqi one.

  …“You don’t need 100,000 [Turkish] troops to take their positions,” said a senior Iraqi Kurd politician. “What they’re clearly planning to do is to stage a major incursion and take control of the major land routes inside Iraqi Kurdistan leading up into the border mountains from the Iraqi side.”

  …There is speculation in Kurdish circles that the Turks might also try to bomb or otherwise neutralize the two Iraqi Kurdish airports, at Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, which Ankara asserts have been allowing PKK fighters to gain refuge.

  …“The Turks could wipe them out or bomb them as they have done in the past. What they are proposing is something larger than that. They are talking about a large-scale military incursion, which is getting people extremely, extremely nervous and worried. The concern of many people is that Turkish ambition may stretch beyond taking out the PKK…”

  BBC NEWS ONLINE, 18 JANUARY 2008:…Turkey has been threatening military action against the PKK ever since insurgents intensified their attacks on Turkish troops, putting the government here under immense public pressure to respond with force. Last month, the government authorized the military to carry out cross-border operations [into Iraq] against the PKK whenever necessary.

  The air strikes on Sunday night were the first serious sign of that.

  …Ankara says it has tacit approval from the U.S. for its operations, under an agreement reached in Washington last month by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President George W. Bush.

  “I believe the USA supplied actionable intelligence, and the Turkish military took action,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman told the BBC…

  “TURKISH TROOPS KILL 11 REBELS IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY NEAR BORDER WITH IRAQ—ASSOCIATED PRESS,” 12 MARCH 2007—ANKARA, TURKEY: Turkish troops killed 11 Kurdish rebels during clashes in southeastern Turkey near the border with Iraq, a private news agency reported Wednesday. The fighting comes two weeks after Turkey’s eight-day incursion into northern Iraq to flush out the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, who have been battling the Turkish government since 1984.

  …Some Turkish nationalists fear that increasing cultural rights could lead to the breakup of the country along ethnic lines. They worry that Turkish Kurds could be encouraged by the U.S.-supported Kurdish region in northern Iraq, which has its own government and militia…

  SECOND QUARTER 2008 FORECAST, © STRATFOR.COM, 4 APRIL 2008: Regional trend: Turkey is emerging as a major regional power and in 2008 will begin to exert influence throughout its periphery—most notably in northern Iraq…

  Turkey is feeling strong not only in northern Iraq, but also in the nearby Balkans and Caucasus, where it is seeking to mentor newly independent Kosovo and a newly oil-rich Azerbaijan…

  “‘IRON MAN’ IS THE NEW FACE OF MILITARY CONTRACTORS,” JEREMY HSU, SPACE.COM, 6 MAY 2008: When superhero Tony Stark isn’t donning his Iron Man armor to personally rough up villains, he’s pitching the U.S. military on new gadgets to fight the War on Terror.

  …Private individuals and companies might not be as visible as UAVs soaring above the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq, yet their role has grown just as dramatically during the recent conflicts.

  …No one questions that the United States could not fight a war now without outsourcing to military contractors…That means military contractors have also expanded beyond just selling military hardware. They now run supply lines, feed troops, build base camps, consult on strategy and even fight as private security forces…

  “IRAN: U.S.–IRAQI DEAL WOULD ‘ENSLAVE’ IRAQIS—RAFSANJANI,” STRATFOR.COM, JUNE 4, 2008: Iranian Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on June 4 said the Islamic world will try to stop a long-term security agreement between Iraq and the United States, saying the terms of the deal would “enslave” Iraqis, the Associated Press reported. Rafsanjani said the U.S.–Iraqi deal would lead to a permanent occupation of Iraq, and that such an occupation is dangerous for all states in the region…

  THIRD QUARTER FORECAST, STRATFOR.COM, 8 JULY 2008:…Regional trend: Turkey is emerging as a major regional power and in 2008 will begin to exert influence throughout its periphery—most notably in northern Iraq…Turkey is becoming bolder on the international stage: sending troops into northern Iraq, mediating Israeli-Syrian peace talks, pushing energy projects in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and making its influence felt in the Balkans…

  “IRAQI PARLIAMENT CALLS SESSION ON KIRKUK,” ASSOCIATED PRESS, 30 JULY 2008:…Tensions escalated Monday after a suicide bomb attack in Kirkuk during a Kurdish protest against the elections law killed 25 people and injured more than 180.

  Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Turkomans, Arabs, and other minorities. After the explosion in Kirkuk, dozens of angry Kurds stormed the offices of a Turkoman political party that opposes Kurdish claims on Kirkuk, opening fire and burning cars amid accusations that their rivals were to blame. Nine Turkomen, or ethnic Turks, were reported wounded.

  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which has been defending the rights of Turkomen, called Iraqi authorities to express concern over the incidents in Kirkuk and proposed to send a plane to bring the wounded to Turkey for treatment, the Iraqi president’s office said…

  “TURKEY CONCERNED WITH CITY OF KIRKUK,” ASSOCIATED PRESS, 2 AUGUST 2008: Baghdad—The Turki
sh government has expressed concern regarding the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where ethnic Turks are locked in a territory dispute, an Iraqi official says.

  An unidentified Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had been contacted by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babican regarding the situation in the city, the Kuwait News Agency KUNA reported Saturday.

  The province of Kirkuk has demanded the city become part of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, while Turkey has steadfastly opposed such a movement.

  While the city holds the largest concentration of ethnic Turks in Iraq, the spokesman said Zebari has maintained that any attempts to solve the dispute will be conducted solely by Iraq.

  Zebari said any outside attempts to become involved in the dispute would not be welcomed by Iraq, the spokesman told KUNA.

  “LASER GUN’S FIRST BLAST,” WIRED, DANGER ROOM, 13 AUGUST 2008: Boeing announced today the first ever test firing of a real-life ray gun that could become U.S. Special Forces’ way to carry out covert strikes with “plausible deniability.”

  In tests earlier this month at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Boeing’s Advanced Tactical Laser—a modified C-130H aircraft—“fired its high-energy chemical laser through its beam control system. The beam control system acquired a ground target and guided the laser beam to the target, as directed by ATL’s battle management system…”

  “RECORD NUMBER OF U.S. CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ,” CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, PETER GRIER, 18 AUGUST 2008: Washington—The American military has depended on private contractors since sutlers sold paper, bacon, sugar, and other small luxuries to Continental Army troops during the Revolutionary War.